GALLERY: Igbo community celebrates cultural heritage
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/09/2023 (785 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The vibrancy of Brandon’s newcomer community was on full display at the Ukrainian Reading Association Hall Saturday for the inaugural Igbo Cultural Day and New Yam Festival.
This event served as a major public showcase for the traditional music, cuisine and clothing of the Igbo people, an ethnic group that comprises around 42 million people in Africa’s most populous country (Nigeria).
One of the major Igbo cultural practices on display Saturday was the ceremonial cutting and eating of yams, which is celebrated in Nigeria every year to mark the end of a successful harvest season.
“What we’re doing here today is to tell the story … the story of Igbo, the story of Nigeria in general, since our children, most of them, have never been to Nigeria before,” said Brandon School Division trustee Calistus Ekenna, who arrived in Brandon with his family around 11 years ago.
Since then, Ekenna revealed that Brandon’s Igbo population has slowly but steadily been on the rise.
While there were only 20 or so Igbo residents when he first got settled, Ekenna believes that the local population is now well over 100, which is why he and some other newcomers formed Umu Igbo Brandon Association Inc.
This New Yam Festival at the Ukrainian Reading Association Hall served as a continuation of the group’s efforts to engage with members of the broader public, having cultivated a guest list on Saturday that included major Brandon dignitaries like Mayor Jeff Fawcett.
Moving forward, the association is looking to increase the Igbo people’s public profile in Brandon through putting together more events and carving out their own public venue somewhere in the community.
“The hope is that by next year we’re going to be having this [event] in our own place and it’s going to be in a bigger place,” Ekenna said.
» The Brandon Sun
